Where were you? ⇒

What were you doing two years ago today when "it" happened?

I was in Houston going to a trade show. I turned on the radio and heard the hosts talking about the planes. And then as I was listening, the first tower (the second hit) collapsed!! I just couldn't believe it. It didn't feel real.

When I got there, everyone was madly trying to find external internet connection so we could find out what was happening. The conference organizers set up TVs all around so we could see what was going on. It was eerie. In the afternoon, everything shut down. The trade show was cancelled, the ball game we were going to go was cancelled. All flights were cancelled. People set up boards where you could post where you needed to be. Then vans were rented and people just drove home! For 3 or 4 days!! I thought about, but I figured that the planes would be going after a couple of days and then I would make it home then.

I found out that my dad was in DC at the time and only 3 miles from the Pentagon!! He was alright thankfully. The only good memory of that whole week is that I got to see my friends Ted & Janice in Allen, just north of Dallas. It was good to see them again, regardless of the reasons.

I was staying in the worst hotel in Houston in a bad end of town. And I was the only one from Epic down there. What a disaster. I had a wedding that I was supposed to be in at 2PM on Saturday. I finally got a flight that was supposed to land at noon, so I thought I would be able to make the wedding. But, as one might expect, the airport was in chaos!! I got there at 4:30AM (CST) for my 8:30 flight. Made it through security and to my gate. Then we didn't have any crew. Then we didn't have a pilot. And our first officer went to another plane. We eventually left about an hour late, still time to make the wedding.

We finally landed, I breezed through customs, my luggage was ready when I walked up to it and the rental car was right there (we had no car at the time and Christine was already at the wedding). I figure I can juuuust make it, and I am heading out on 99 when my car breaks down!!! F&*(**^K!! How could so many things go wrong on one trip!

Turns out they waited as long as they could for me, but by the time I got the ceremony was over. I did manage to get into the pictures though, so that was nice. And I have never had such a nice greeting from everyone. It was an excellent reception, although I don't remember very much of it as I was very, very tired. By the time I left it was midnight, I had been up for 22 hours, spent 5 hours in a chaotic airport, 5 hours in a plane and had a broken down rental car.

I will never forget that day.

My heart goes out to all that suffered.

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